Cyber Monday a stay-at-home option to Black Friday burnout

Today is Cyber Monday, growing more and more popular as an alternative to Black Friday shopping.

MELANIE VANDERVEER

Today is Cyber Monday, growing more and more popular as an alternative to Black Friday shopping.

With its absence of stores mobbed with sale-crazed shoppers, congested traffic on the roadways and possible disappointment over not finding a particular gift, Cyber Monday is considered a gift to many cyber-loving folks.

While Black Friday signifies the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the United States and has been a common term since the 1970s, Cyber Monday is in only its second year in existence, making last year the biggest day of online shopping ever.

Experts expect Cyber Monday will gain in popularity as more consumers become accustomed to shopping online.

The term, Cyber Monday, was coined because the National Retail Federation, shop.org, saw a change in online sales.

"They noticed that for the past few years, there has been a huge surge in sales the Monday after Black Friday," Matthew Cheng, CEO of ecoupons.com, said in an interview with the Pocono Record.

In 2006, Cyber Monday generated more than $647 million in sales. This year is expected to surpass that total — by far. Many people are turning to the ease of shopping online and having products shipped to their door.

"One unique thing is that while Black Friday sales begin early in the morning on Friday, online stores are starting their specials at midnight on Thanksgiving and some even earlier in the day," Cheng said.

Many people have their Thanksgiving dinner, then run to the computer to do some holiday shopping.

What's behind the new shopping trend? "People go out and shop on Black Friday and possibly all weekend and may not find the gifts that they were hoping to find so when they get back to work on Monday, they secretly shop online," Cheng said.

That explains the increase in sales the Monday following Black Friday. Online stores are catching on to this trend by promoting more specials for Cyber Monday.

When shopping online, keep in mind a few important tips. One is to be wary of store specials e-mails. There are a lot of "phishing" scams out there and by going to the store from the e-mail and by using a credit card, hackers can steal personal information from their own use.

Always go directly to the store's site. When shopping online, make sure that the URL at the top is really the store's URL where you want to shop.

Make sure you have a secured connection as well. A lock on the bottom of the site indicates that it is a secured site. If the URL starts with "https," that means it is secure as well.

One other valuable tip given from Cheng: Always check credit card statements. Make sure you were charged correctly and not charged twice for the same purchase.

Ecoupons.com has more than a thousand coupons from many different retailers.